Hi, I’m Linda. Thanks so much for checking out the November 2025 edition of my Linda Be Learning newsletter. If you are just discovering me, I encourage you to check out my website and my YouTube channel to learn more about the work I do in the field of learning technology and innovation.

Last month I focused on the spooky topic of spyware and surveillance. It has been the most popular edition to date, and several people told me that it was both informative and terrifying.

This month, I’m making a 180 degree turn from last month, focusing on gratitude, not fear. Many good things are happening in tech that are often eclipsed by all the oligarchs, tech bros, and the multitude of nefarious dealings rife in the industry. These are the innovations that cause us to wake up full of purpose and hope.

In this month’s edition, we’ll explore technologies to be thankful for.

Tech to Get Excited About

I am always discovering and exploring new tech. It’s usually:

• recent developments in tech I have worked on in the past,

• tech I am actively using myself for projects,

• tech I am researching for competitive analysis or other purposes, and/or

• my client’s tech.

People tend to think of tech exclusively as being human-made, the stuff coming from Silicon Valley based on chips, tokens, and mechanistic thinking. I, on the other hand, recognize that some of the most incredible technology known to us wasn’t created by us, and we’re still learning just how valuable these gifts from Mother Nature actually are.

In this month’s Tech To Get Excited About segment, we’re going to examine the “wood-wide web';” namely, fungi and its potential for mediating climate change and healing the earth.

Fungi and Mycelium

Fungi are all around us - in the soil, our bodies and the air. They provide medicines and food and are vital to life on Earth. But despite that, the more than 90% of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world are currently unknown to science. I grew up foraging for mushrooms with my dad and my brother, kicking off a lifelong fascination with fungi.

Fungi are in a kingdom of their own but are closer to animals than plants. Dr Oliver Ellingham describes them as “a whole other kingdom equal if not greater in diversity than both plants and animals." At least 350 species are consumed as foods, drinks, or medicine, but fungi are much more useful beyond being a food source. Fungi are also used in the processing of all sorts of materials. Some examples include cotton processing, in which fungi spores are used to break down excess bleach in the wastewater, and to remove fine cotton threads, preventing the fiber from pilling. Fungi are also used in processing leather, by degreasing the hides, as well as paper manufacturing, using spores to speed up the pulping process and reduce water usage. Plastic car parts, synthetic rubber and lego are made using itaconic acid derived from a species of Aspergillus.

Mycelium is made from the root system of fungi and can be grown in all kinds of different forms. When mycelium is dried, it has similar properties to polystyrene, making it a suitable replacement for packaging material, polystyrene foam, leather, building materials, and even products like light shades and wine coolers (it has great insulating properties). In addition to being used as a solid material, it is also possible to make fabric out of mycelium. Examples include the Mycotex dress by designer Aniela Hoitink, and the material Muskin.

Mycoremediation

In addition to helping make materials, fungi can also help break them down, and not just natural and labeled biodegradable materials. The fungus Aspergillus tubingensis is capable of breaking down plastics such as polyester polyurethane in weeks rather than years. Fungi are being used to turn crop waste into bioethanol and to clean up pollutants such as acidic radioactive waste, oil spills, toxic chemicals like pesticides, and wildfire pollution.

Could fungi be the solution to counteracting the damage being caused by data centers?

Dr. Brian Douglas of The Lost and Found Fungi Project says fungi are as beautiful as orchids and just as important to protect. "I think we need to teach people, invite people in to admiring fungi."

In a world with an increasing need for sustainable materials and a solution for pollution, mushrooms seem to be the future. To learn more, visit Kew Gardens’ State of the World’s Plants and Fungi Project.

The Star Trek Connection

While most Trekkies are familiar with the warp drive, the spore drive is a unique feature introduced in Star Trek: Discovery. The spore drive operates on the mycelial plane, navigating the mycelial network. In Star Trek: Discovery, mycelia form the foundation of space and connect every aspect of life across the multiverse. The mycelial network is also its own ecosystem. USS Discovery can jump anywhere almost instantaneously using this network.

Despite criticism of the spore drive technology, mushroom fans have caught several "real-life" references in Star Trek: Discovery. Even USS Discovery's Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets is inspired by a real person. On the show, he is an astromycologist named after Paul Stamets, a real-life mycologist. The Starfleet officer version of Stamets develops the technology used for spore drive propulsion. Real-life Stamets is a pioneer in the use of mushrooms in bioremediation, also known as mycoremediation. As we saw earlier, fungi can produce enzymes that break down many pollutants in the environment, even plastic.

Sadly, the mycelial network does not exist as a higher dimensional space we can traverse like it does in the Star Trek universe. But in real life, mycelium of below-ground fungi connect plants and trees together, and have even been shown to communicate with each other. Mycelium can transport nutrients between different plants or trees, and real-life Paul Stamets has the called the real-life mycelial network "Earth's natural internet". Even bacteria use "hyphal highways" to travel through soil and move much further than bacteria who cannot use fungal mycelium to transport themselves to more food and resources.

Check out Nature’s Hidden Internet: The Remarkable World of Fungal Networks to learn more about it.

Fungi are infamously known for not following rules as well as other biological groups. Learn more about the billion year partnership between plants and fungi, the fungi that farm bacteria like human agriculture, black fungi that can use radiation to grow, and the largest organism in the world (spoiler - it's a fungus) for some ideas of what's possible in the real world of fungi.

AI/ML for Good

This is the segment where I usually introduce an AI or machine learning technology used for the betterment of the planet, humanity, and the rest of its inhabitants. I came across two inspiring choices to share with you this month - one that plants trees with every search, and the other reviving Indigenous languages and unlocking ancestral wisdom.

Ecosia

I learned about Ecosia through funding Planet Wild’s latest mission. If you’re not already familiar with Project Wild, I first introduced the organization in the January edition of the newsletter, focused on terraforming.

Ecosia provides a simple way to take climate action every day. Just by browsing the internet, you can help plant trees in biodiversity hotspots, support local communities, and combat climate change. Like other search engines, Ecosia earns money from ads. But unlike other search engines, they use 100% of their profits to fund climate action. Over 230 million trees have already been planted across 35+ countries, restoring landscapes and saving wildlife.

Other highlights I love about Ecosia:

• Ecosia wants trees, not your data. They only collect what's needed to deliver search results, and your searches are always encrypted.

• Ecosia runs on renewable energy. Unlike GenAI data centers, their solar plants generate twice the electricity needed to power your searches - pushing clean energy into the grid and helping replace fossil fuels.

• Ecosia provides climate positive, transparent reporting. They are a not-for-profit tech company that publishs monthly financial reports so you can see exactly where your clicks go - toward real, measurable climate impact.

This Chrome extension sets your search engine to Ecosia and customizes your new tab page so you can plant trees with every search. Download Ecosia and join a global community of millions taking meaningful action for the planet - one search at a time.

SkoBots

SkoBots is the first Indigenous robot designed entirely by Indigenous leaders. It’s a wearable, customizable, and interactive language learning robot for Indigenous youth that senses motion and speaks. It responds to being spoken to in the voices of Indigenous children in the endangered Indigenous language Anishinaabemowin and utilizes ethical, sustainable, and internally developed AI. The students build the robots themselves. It was created as a language revitalization and STEAM educational tool for Indigenous youths to make their own, with the simplest versions costing less than $100 dollars each to make. The robots reimagine a future with Anishinaabe toys and were made to supplement community language learning (never replace it) for free.

The robots were conceptualized by Danielle Boyer (Ojibwe, Inventor) with support from her mentors Dr. Joshuaa Allison-Burbank (Diné & Acoma Pueblo, Speech-Language Pathologist, Mentor) and Robert Maldonado (Design Mentor). The robot has been informed by students and community members for The STEAM Connection.

@danielleboyerr

Language preservation of Indigenous languages is crucial. These robots (called SkoBots) were designed alongside my mentors to go to youth ... See more

If you are a school or organization interested in implementing a SkoBots program, join their email list or send them an email at [email protected].

Featured Collaborator

I’m adding this new segment to the newsletter this month to highlight the work of people I’m proud to call my collaborators. This month I’m featuring The Roots of Change agency and the amazing work Sam Chavez is doing.

If you missed it, I was on Sam’s pod last summer, talking about AI. We recorded it back in June 2024 and the hype has only become hypier since then.

Sam’s human- and heart-centered approach is what makes their work stand out. Check out this more recent interview highlighting water rights and climate implications to learn more about what’s going on and what you can do to help.

Learning Theory: Nature-Based Learning

Nature-based learning is a 21st-century reform effort that aims to improve learning outcomes and move away from more traditional approaches that rely on little to no direct interactions with the natural world. The idea is not new. Theories and methods of learning in nature have been proposed and tested for more than two centuries, often with young children in mind.

Two historically prominent nature-based learning initiatives sparked by education and health reforms nearly a century apart include:

• Nature Study, an initiative followed in the United States from the 1890s to the 1920s, and

• Forest Schools, which began in the early 20th century in Germany for their health benefits but were reintroduced and modernized in the mid-20th century (in Denmark and Germany) and in the 1990s (in England and the United States).

These two initiatives are based on similar ideologies and theories, informed by a small set of scientific and esoteric concepts (here, esotericism is the spiritual reality expressed in nature). However, the connections between the two initiatives are not well understood. Some literature on the history of Nature Study suggests it continues to grow, whereas the history of the Forest School has been dismissed by some researchers as “folklore.” These days, there is emerging research about Forest Schools that does go deeper into the theory, and a burgeoning number of forums, conferences, and networks for teachers and researchers have emerged, creating excitement over the potential of nature-based learning today.

One prominent viewpoint related to nature learning and childhood is naturalism, which refers to the belief that human development “is in accord with the laws of nature which hold the secret of their influence.” Naturalism, or a naturalistic viewpoint, is underpinned by two related theories of child development: unfoldment theory and recapitulation theory.

Unfoldment theory formed the basis for kindergarten inventor Friedrich Froebel’s system of early education, which he established in Germany in 1839. Froebel believed that children were complete beings from birth, capable of higher-order thinking when given guidance. This meant that children’s development unfolded naturally and that development was predetermined. As he wrote in The Education of Man, “each following generation and each following individual man is to pass through the whole earlier development and cultivation of the human race” (1885, 11). Today, unfoldment theory can be seen in the theory behind teachers’ support for children directing their own play and other activities according to their interests.

In recapitulation theory, each child’s growth repeats the development of the entire species from so-called “savage” to “civilized,” and it is based on unfounded and now discredited ideas about racial hierarchies. Followers of the German educator Johann Friedrich Herbart, prominent in the early 1800s, applied this theory to educational contexts, calling it culture-epoch theory. The theory was used by educators to sequence curriculum to broadly reflect stages in human history, such as studying the portable homes of nomadic peoples before colonial houses, or introducing fables and folk tales before more “scientific” literature.

To Froebel, who was influenced by Herbart, culture-epoch theory meant a cycle of cultural and spiritual development: children progressed from “primitive” to higher abilities over time. Even play was seen as a stage of primitive development in which young children, more primitive animal species, and more primitive people around the world were engaged. Froebel’s own theory, sadly, was also established on a notion of child development that was based on racial hierarchies. Remnants of culture-epoch theory—though discredited—can still be seen today in the common preschool activities of beading and weaving. Some researchers suggest that this practice had a potential benefit by giving educators at the time a theoretical framing to appreciate the educational value of providing children with Indigenous practices, and paving the way for a more respectful way of engaging with different cultures that resists the hegemonic power of European influence.

Whether of the past or present conceptualizations, two key components of nature-based learning are environments and relationships. On both accounts, nature-based learning is concerned with the natural and the human-centered: on the one hand, natural and human-centered environments (those created to meet human needs, such as cities) and on the other hand, the natural world and human relationships (those shaped by different spiritual, moral, or biological ideas). Furthermore, the relationship between people and nature is shaped by the scientific rationalism of Enlightenment period thinking (measuring, classifying, and categorizing nature) and German idealism. German idealism held that nature could only be comprehended by linking observation and experimentation with the self through creativity and emotion. This included connecting with nature (i.e., being in nature, seeking to understand what is going on in nature, and respecting the life forms and processes that occur in nature).

Want to learn more about nature-based learning, the history of the movement, and prominent nature-based programs? Check out these resources:

• The Freedom of Forest Kindergarten – Erin Kenny. Uncivilize podcast by Jennifer Grayson, episode from March 12, 2018. In this podcast episode, Jennifer Grayson interviews Cedarsong Nature School founder Erin Kenny, touching on the history of forest kindergartens and the origins of the program, addressing curriculum, and sharing practical matters of teaching young children out-of-doors.

• Out of the Classroom and Into the Woods, by Emily Hanford for nprEd, May 26, 2015. Emily Hanford profiles a teacher’s experiment with outdoor learning one day each week in her kindergarten in Vermont, which involves a modified version of forest school in a public-school context. More information on her kindergarten and the experience of other teachers and programs is included on the Natural Start Alliance website

• When Fears of Tuberculosis Drove an Open-Air School Movement, by Sara Pruitt for History, July 30, 2020. Sara Pruitt charts the history of medically oriented forest schools, with a focus on the United States and with photographs of open-air schools in action. Additional photographs can be viewed at the Library of Congress website by searching “open-air-schools” in Photos, Prints, Drawings.

• How Nature-Based Learning Applies to the Real World, a blog post describing real-world applications, environmental stewardship, examples of nature-based learning programs, cross-curricular integration, and future outlook.

Because of the preponderance of forests and liberal-leaning tendencies where I live in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, there are multiple Forest Schools here, including Chrysalis Forest School, Fiddleheads Forest School, Wild Whimsy Forest School, Suncatcher Forest School, and Westwind Forest School, just to name a few of the more prominent ones.

For elsewhere in the US, check out this Ultimate List of Forest Schools, Outdoor Based and Nature-Inspired Schools of the USA.

Upcoming Learning Offering

Ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about artificial intelligence?

Don’t miss our next can’t-miss Book Review as we peel back the layers of one of the most illuminating books of the year: Unmasking AI, by Dr. Joy Buolamwini.

Join us on Saturday, November 29, 2025, where we’ll explore:

• How AI impacts our daily lives—and the biases encoded beneath the surface

• Dr. Buolamwini’s powerful story of uncovering systemic flaws in technology and the urgent call for ethical, inclusive design

• The real-world consequences of “unseen” AI, from facial recognition to hiring and healthcare

• Practical strategies for challenging bias and creating a future where technology works for everyone.

This isn’t your average book club. This is a deep dive into the ethics, innovation, and real human impact of a technology transforming our world—one algorithm at a time.

That’s all for now. I hope this month’s edition has given you hope and more ideas about how technology can be leveraged to help both the planet and humanity. And perhaps it’s also encouraged you to shut down your devices and spend more time outdoors, engaged with the natural world. That’s something we can all be thankful for.

See you next month!